A Trip Through the Hat
by NothingSpecial9532
Summary: Regina is frustrated with the requirements of casting the Dark Curse and decides to use Jefferson's hat to travel to another land, where she's heard word of another Dark One. Canon compliant for both Once and HP, spoilers for Once Season 4.


_October 19th 1983_

 _The Dark Palace, the Enchanted Forest_

Regina stormed down the polished stone corridor, with a flick of her wrist she cast aside the two royal guards standing before her. She marched over to the balcony overlooking the Enchanted Forest and screamed at the top of her lungs. When breath would no longer come and her throat burnt, she slumped against the railings, defeated.

"My Queen, you have returned from your consultation with Rumplestiltskin?" came the dreamy voice of the Magic Mirror upon Regina's wall.

"How observant, Mirror." Regina barked back, turning on her heels and stomping over to the dressing table, where she sat down and gazed at her reflection.

"Could I really do it?" Regina muttered to herself.

"Do what, my Queen?" said the Mirror, suddenly appearing before Regina in her dressing table mirror. She raised a fist threateningly and the Mirror vanished, only to reappear in the large, circular mirror behind her.

"Is there something I can assist you with?" the Mirror asked, concern on its ghostly visage.

"Rumplestiltskin told me…something unpleasant. In order to enact my Dark Curse I need-" Regina paused for a moment, "A heart."

"But you already tried with the horse's heart and it failed."

"Don't remind me!" Regina snapped.

"So you require a different kind of heart?"

"A very different heart. A special heart. My father's heart." Regina sighed, resting her head in her hands, unable to look at her own reflection. The idea of crushing her own father's heart was impossible to even consider. However, Rumplestiltskin had been very clear. It had to be 'the thing she loved most'. A horse just wouldn't fit the bill.

"I see," the Mirror mused, "Is there perhaps any other way?"

"If there were, don't you think I would've tried that already?!" Regina yelled, grabbing a nearby hairbrush and hurling it out into the royal grounds below, "Besides, that little imp was very clear. No, this is the only way. If I'm ever to defeat Snow White and destroy her happy ending, I must make sacrifices."

Behind Regina, one of her royal guards shuffled to his feet, clearly dazed from her magic throwing him against a wall. He walked over to where his companion lay motionless.

"My Queen," the guard called over, "I think Thomas is dead."

Regina got to her feet and turned to face the guard, a newly forming idea glistening in her eyes.

"Well, that doesn't necessarily mean Thomas won't be of any service to us." she drawled, waving off the other guard.

Regina held out her hand as purple smoke enveloped it. When the smoke dissipated, a rather worn hat was sitting on her palm.

"Is that…Jefferson's hat?" the Mirror inquired, switching to the dressing table mirror, so as to get a closer look at the hat, "Where might I ask are you planning to travel to?"

Regina placed the hat on the ground and gave it a spin. At once the hat began to twist and turn, throwing up great plumes of purple magic. Wind whipped around Regina as the hat continued to turn ever quicker and she had to shout to reply to the Mirror.

"I have heard rumours, Mirror, of a land that has its own Dark One. Perhaps it will be more useful than our own dear Rumplestiltskin." Regina bent down and grabbed Thomas under the arms and dragged him over to where the hat was spinning, "After you, Thomas." she cackled, heaving the dead guard into the hat's spinning portal, where he disappeared.

"I don't anticipate this will take long, Mirror. If my father asks, tell him I'm away on royal business."

And with a curt nod to the Mirror, Regina too jumped into the portal. Within moments, the winds and purple magic vanished, leaving not even the hat behind.

* * *

"Merlin's beard, what is that?" cried a red-haired boy as a battered, old hat suddenly appeared in the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts, spinning and twisting and throwing out great clouds of purple smoke. A fierce torrent of winds whipped around the hat, sending students running for cover and loose parchment flying everywhere. Out of the hat, flew a man dressed in all black and chain mail, who crumpled on the floor next to the hat.

"Cor, do you think it's a portkey, Bill?" asked another boy, cowering next to the redhead.

"Don't be daft, only Dumbledore can use portkeys inside Hogwarts!" Bill declared back, staring intently at the still-spinning hat.

Moments later, out stepped a woman from the hat and the winds surrounding her slowed down and vanished as the hat fell still and silent.

The woman was dressed, much like the man on the floor, all in black. She wore a long, black dress with a plunging neckline, accentuated with purple and gold stitchings that made it shimmer in the light streaming into the Entrance Hall from outside. Black, velvet gloves stretched up her arms and many expensive-looking rings adorned her gloved fingers. A tight, black, leather corset wrapped so tightly around her torso that it seemed impossible for her to breathe or even move. She had long, sleek, black hair that was pulled up into a very severe ponytail, which appeared to be held in place by an intricate headpiece, wrapped around her head, that resembled a black doily. The woman was strikingly beautiful, but as she spun around, taking in Hogwarts, her beautiful features were twisted by a look of disgust and confusion.

"Excuse me, out of the way, students!" came the shrill cries of Minerva McGonagall, bustling past nearby onlookers. She elbowed her way through, paying no attention to the woman in black. McGonagall fell to the floor before the man who also emerged from the hat. She lifted the black helmet covering his face off and clapped her hands to her mouth.

"This man needs a healer. Weasley, go get Madam Pomfrey at once!" McGonagall commanded, and the red-haired boy dashed away up a nearby stone staircase.

"He doesn't need a healer," sneered the woman, "He's dead."

"No, no, there must be something we can do." McGonagall protested, placing her hand on the man's stone cold forehead.

"He's dead." the woman repeated, "Here, look." she bent down next to McGonagall and without warning, plunged her gloved hand into the man's chest. McGonagall jumped back and to her feet, as the woman retracted her hand. Clenched in her palm was a faintly glowing heart. The woman stood back up and inspected the heart, an unsettlingly hungry look in her eyes.

"Oh, you were right." the woman said, amused by the faint pink glow the heart was emanating, "No matter, that's a problem I'll gladly fix."

The woman clenched her fist tighter, and crushed the heart in her palm into nothing more than dust. McGonagall drew herself up as students ran screaming, rushing into the Great Hall for cover. McGonagall whipped out her wand from beneath her robes and pointed it at the woman, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself.

"I don't know where you came from or what dark magic you employ, but you will leave this school at once, beast!" McGonagall cried, angling her wand threateningly.

"Beast? How dare you speak so insolently to a queen!" the woman growled. She held out her palm flat and uncurled her fingers, a fireball growing in her palm. McGonagall didn't hesitate, she flicked her wand and said, "Aguamenti."

A stream of water flew from the tip of McGonagall's wand and extinguished the fireball in the woman's hand. She looked at McGonagall, impressed.

"So, you're a witch? And you say this is a school?" she asked, stepping closer to McGonagall, who still held her wand out before her.

"Yes, and you would be wise to leave immediately."

"Not before I find who I'm looking for," Regina declared, "I seek the Dark One. Or whatever it's called in your land."

McGonagall furrowed her brow in confusion.

"The only Dark One here is you!"

"Hardly," Regina sniffed, "If I were a Dark One, do you think I would have travelled all the way here just to chit-chat with an old hag!" Regina taunted. McGonagall jabbed her wand closer to Regina, who snarled back at her.

"Never in my life have I encountered someone so rude and callous and-"

"Minerva! What's going on here?" the serene voice of Albus Dumbledore drifted down the hallway, as he approached, a cowering Argus Filch in tow. Dumbledore approached the two women and McGonagall immediately stepped back behind Dumbledore.

"Students running everywhere, said this woman appeared out of nowhere and killed someone." Filch whispered in Dumbledore's ear, who waved him off. Dumbledore surveyed the scene before him from behind his half-moon spectacles. He looked pitifully down at the man on the floor, before turning his head slightly back to Filch.

"Mr Filch, please go fetch a stretcher. Have this man properly and respectfully buried on the school grounds." Dumbledore instructed and Filch hobbled away at once, wheezing with every step.

"I don't believe we've been introduced," Dumbledore turned back to the woman before him and extended his hand to her, "Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts. And you are?"

The woman took his hand, gripped it lightly and shook.

"Queen Regina of the Enchanted Forest. I am here for the Dark One." Regina proclaimed, letting Dumbledore's hand go.

"So I heard. And I'm afraid our Dark One, or rather the Dark Lord as he preferred to be called, is no longer with us." Dumbledore explained. Regina stomped her foot and gritted her teeth.

"The Dark One was defeated?" she asked, a slight growl in her voice.

"That's correct. He was vanquished several years ago. Quite the story." Dumbledore said, the faint trace of a smile playing on his lips. Regina put her hand on her hip and sighed.

"Well, I need to speak with a powerful sorcerer. The most powerful sorcerer your land has to offer."

"Then, if I may say so myself, you are looking at him." Dumbledore gave a small curtsy.

"You?" Regina asked, looking the man up and down, "But you're just an old man?"

"Yes, terrifically old. But looks can be deceiving."

"Very well. I wish to speak with you…in private." Regina added, casting a dark glance to McGonagall, who leant close to Dumbledore's ear and whispered frantically,

"Honestly, Albus, you can't be thinking of entertaining this woman. She just murdered a man!"

"That man was not of our world, Minerva. While I certainly don't believe killing him was the right course of action, I'm afraid we don't have the jurisdiction to intervene." Dumbledore said, "We'll go to my office. Follow me, your majesty."

Regina raised an eyebrow at the old wizard, but as he turned and walked off in the direction he came, Regina promptly followed. Filch rushed past them wheezing, with a stretcher under his arm.

"His name was Thomas." Regina called over her shoulder to Filch and the fuming McGonagall, who were both attempting to lift the man onto the stretcher, "And look after my hat. I'd hate to be trapped in this dingy land for all eternity."

* * *

Regina settled into a luxurious, high-backed chair opposite the old man before her. He smiled serenely at her and she managed to force a half-smirk back. She had walked up many flights of stairs, most of which seemed enchanted to move of their own accord, to reach the office she was now seated in. The castle was old, but fairly well-kept. Not exactly to Regina's standards, but not the worst surroundings. As they walked down a stone hallway, Regina had gazed out to the sprawling grounds below. The trees in the distance reminded her of the Enchanted Forest. She was shocked to see a teenage boy whip past the window, flying on a broomstick, followed by several others. She had heard rumours of the Wicked Witch of Oz who liked to fly by broomstick, but that somehow seemed less ridiculous than children chasing after each other on them.

"So, what would you like to discuss?" Dumbledore asked, intertwining his fingers in a very diplomatic gesture.

"I came to this land for advice." Regina said.

"I do enjoy dispensing advice." Dumbledore chuckled.

"In several days time, I plan to cast my Dark Curse. It will rip everything and everyone away from my land and send them all somewhere horrible. Somewhere they won't ever be happy again. And I will finally have my revenge on Snow White." Regina declared, slamming her fist down hard on Dumbledore's desk, earning several tuts of disapproval from the paintings lining the walls. As Regina gazed up at them, she noticed that the occupants inside the frames seemed to be moving, much like the ones she had encountered on the stairwells.

"Revenge, you say? That's not really my cup of tea, if I'm completely honest. And you said 'Snow White'?" Dumbledore asked. Regina's eyebrows flew up in surprise.

"You know her?"

"Oh no, not at all. I wasn't aware she was rather real. I've heard nothing more than stories and tales." Dumbledore explained.

"Yes, she's quite real. The thorn in my side." Regina snarled.

"If you don't mind me saying, you seem a rather powerful witch. If this Snow White is so terrible, why not simply defeat her in battle?" Dumbledore asked, deeply interested in Regina's situation.

"It's not that simple. They have a protection spell, cast by the Dark One. I can't harm them in our land, that why I need to cast my curse. It will send them to another land where I can finally crush her heart."

"You seem to have quite the penchant for crushing hearts." Dumbledore noted.

"My mother is more of an expert in that field." Regina said off-handedly.

"I presume," Dumbledore pondered, "that something is preventing you from casting your curse? That's why you travelled to our land, is it not?"

"That's right. The curse requires a heart." Regina paused, thinking of her father, back in the Enchanted Forest, oblivious of her plans, "The heart of the thing I love most."

"I see," said Dumbledore, peering over his spectacles at Regina, "And it would pain you to use this heart. You're torn between wanting your revenge and killing that which you treasure above all else?" Dumbledore asked, although Regina was certain that the man was wise enough to know he had already figured it out.

"Exactly. I came here to find an alternative. Another way to getting my happy ending."

Several sharp raps on Dumbledore's office door, echoed throughout, making Regina jump slightly.

"So sorry about this," Dumbledore apologised to Regina, "Come in!" he called and the door burst open. Argus Filch came rushing over to the desk with the magic hat Regina had used under his arm. She immediately snatched it away and placed it gently down on the desk.

"Careful with that!" Regina scolded, "That hat's worth more than your life."

Filch drew himself up, offended, but Dumbledore calmed him with a wave of his hand.

"Thank you, Mr Filch. That will be all."

"Headmaster," Filch wheezed, "Hagrid said he'll bury that man's body this afternoon. Out by the lake."

"Very well. Good day, Mr Filch." Dumbledore waved him off once more and Filch turned and hurried back out.

"Quite an intriguing hat." said Dumbledore, surveying the magic hat on his desk before him, "I do have my own magic hat, but I daresay it can't quite do what yours can."

"Yes, it's a great hat." said Regina sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"My apologies, I do so often get distracted. You were saying you travelled here to find another way to your happy ending? Why not simply do good, forgive?" Dumbledore asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"I've tried. But she's wronged me too many times. She's beyond forgiveness." Regina replied.

"Then I fear I have nothing else to offer you. No magic in this world will be able to fix the pain in your heart."

"You're the most powerful sorcerer in all of your land and the only thing you can offer me is forgiveness?" Regina sneered at the last word.

"It certainly seems that way." Dumbledore concluded.

"Then we have nothing more to talk about." Regina said, getting up from her chair and grabbing the hat from Dumbledore's desk. She tossed it onto the floor and with a wave of her hand, Thomas appeared on the floor beside the hat.

"It's a two-in, two-out kind of rule." Regina explained, seeing Dumbledore's slight surprise at the body. He rose from his chair and approached Regina as she started the hat spinning once more.

"Good luck, Queen Regina. I hope you come to realise some day that revenge isn't the only way to secure one's happy ending." Dumbledore reached out and shook Regina's hand again. She flashed him a dark smile as the winds from the hat whipped around the pair. With a nudge of her foot, Regina kicked Thomas' body into the hat, where it disappeared.

"Goodbye Dumbledore." And with that, Regina leapt into the portal in the centre of the hat and she too vanished. As the hat slowed down spinning, Dumbledore leant closer and peered over his spectacles to see the hat too disappear into thin air.

"Remarkable." he mused to himself, "You can come in now, Professor McGonagall."

McGonagall opened the office door and entered, looking deeply displeased.

"Is that dreadful woman gone, Albus?" she asked.

"Indeed she is. Regina has returned to her own world and I imagine she will soon enact her curse as she didn't find what she was looking for here." Dumbledore explained.

"Do you think she'll succeed in whatever she's planning?" McGonagall, slightly fearful of the answer.

"I suppose she will succeed in casting her curse, but no, I don't think revenge will bring her happiness. It never does."

* * *

"Did you find what you were looking for, My Queen?" the Mirror asked, as Regina landed back in the Dark Palace with both Jefferson's hat and Thomas' body. She flicked her wrist and both the hat and Thomas disappeared in smoke.

"In a sense, yes, Mirror." Regina said, marching over to the balcony overlooking the Enchanted Forest, "I didn't find the magic I wanted, but rather, the resolution I needed." Regina declared.

* * *

 _30 Years Later_

 _June 18th 2013_

 _Storybrooke, Maine_

Regina and Robin strolled down Main Street, arm in arm.

"Quite the adventure we've been on, wouldn't you say Regina?" Robin asked, as they passed the library.

"Adventure is one way to put it. I'm just glad Henry was able to undo everything that Author wrote."

"He's a remarkable young man. You raised him well."

Regina stopped, turned to Robin and pressed her lips against his. She whispered 'thank you' to him as they parted.

"Oh!" Regina exclaimed, suddenly hit by an idea.

"Oh?" Robin repeated.

"Follow me!" Regina lead Robin back to the library and used magic to open the padlocked doors.

"I don't think Belle would appreciate us sneaking in after hours." Robin scolded playfully as Regina rushed over to one of the bookcases at the far end of the library. Robin followed Regina down the aisle, where she was prying up one of the floorboards.

"I certainly don't think she'd appreciate us tearing up the floor. Here." Robin knelt down next to her and yanked up the floorboard. Hidden beneath the boards was a dusty, old hat that was stitched so haphazardly, it looked like it might fall apart as any moment.

"What is that?" Robin asked, as Regina plucked the hat out and shook the dust from it.

"It's a magic hat. The only one I know that exists and works." Regina explained.

"Is that…the Mad Hatter's hat? I thought it was destroyed."

"That hat was. This isn't it. When I destroyed the curse and we all went back to the Enchanted Forest, I slipped away while everyone was resting. I used a looking glass hidden in my castle to visit Wonderland."

"Not exactly the most pleasant of realms to sneak away to." Robin concurred.

"No, not pleasant but useful. Ever since my mother left Wonderland, I knew I had to return. I found Jefferson's workshop there. Of course, nearly none of the hats worked but I found one. One that even he hadn't realised could be used." Regina told him as they walked back into the centre of the library.

"So we can use this hat to travel between realms? Why haven't you used it sooner?" Robin asked.

"The hat in unstable. Jefferson was never able to make a hat quite as powerful as the original. This hat will only last one return trip." Regina explained, placing the hat on the ground before them.

"Well then, where are we going to?" Robin asked, rubbing his hands together, excited at the prospect of an adventure.

"Not we, me. The hat is only strong enough to carry one person between the realms. You have to stay here."

Robin's mouth fell open in shock and Regina caressed his cheek to placate him.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll be back before you know it, there's just something I need to do."

With that Regina spun the hat and it unsteadily jolted to life. Robin planted a goodbye kiss on Regina's lips before she jumped into the hat and disappeared.

* * *

The hat rattled into existence in the headmaster's office as it had once done 30 years before, and Regina emerged from the portal inside. She looked around the open, stone room and found that not much had changed despite the passage of several decades. The desk was empty, but the same two chairs sat on other side of it, one of which she had sat in days before casting the Dark Curse.

"Dumbledore? Albus Dumbledore?" Regina called out, approaching the desk.

"Good heavens, who's there?" came a familiar voice from up the stone steps behind the desk. Minerva McGonagall peeked her head around the corner and dashed down the stone steps towards Regina.

"Who on Earth are you?" McGonagall demanded, pulling out her wand. Regina smiled slightly at how familiar this scene was.

"I'm Regina…Regina Mills. We've actually met before. A long time ago." Regina said.

"Wait, no, that's impossible. You can't be! You don't look a day older!" McGonagall said, utterly baffled.

"Thank you," Regina said awkwardly, "It's a long story but I came to see Albus Dumbledore."

"Well, your dress sense has certainly improved since then."

Regina looked down at her sensible purple dress and black coat. The last time she had been here, she was dressed as the Evil Queen.

"That's not the only thing that's changed. Could I speak with Albus Dumbledore?" Regina asked again, wondering where the headmaster of this school could have gotten to.

"I'm afraid you're many years too late." McGonagall replied. She hung her head slightly.

"He's dead?" Regina exclaimed, shocked. She had expected to return and for that old sorcerer to still be around.

"Yes, he is. There's no way to talk to him." McGonagall concluded. A slight cough came from an empty portrait frame above McGonagall's head. Just out of sight, a serene voice drifted out,

"Well, that's not strictly true, is it, Minerva?" came Dumbledore's voice. He strode into frame and settled in the painted chair, smiling down at Regina.

"Of course, the paintings!" Regina said, remembering how she'd seen the portraits moving before in this office.

"Could you give us a minute, Minerva? I'd quite like to speak with the Queen." Dumbledore asked and McGonagall bowed her head slightly to the portrait, before disappearing up the stone steps and around the corner again.

"She doesn't like me very much, does she?" Regina asked the portrait. Dumbledore chuckled and shook his head.

"You didn't exactly make the best first impression when you were first here, Queen Regina."

"Oh, please, it's just Regina! I haven't been Queen of anything for a long time." Regina explained and Dumbledore nodded slowly.

"I see you've changed a great deal in the time since we last spoke. Did you ever cast that curse of yours?" Dumbledore asked.

"I did. And you were right. It didn't bring me happiness. But it did bring me my son and I've spent years since then trying to be a better person…for him. And now, I have love in my life again." Regina said, smiling broadly. She thought of Henry and Robin and her friends back in Storybrooke.

"So, everything worked out in the end?" Dumbledore asked, folding his hands together.

"Not everything. There's still a certain green sister to deal with and who knows what Rumple's up to," Regina paused, noting how amused Dumbledore looked at all this new information, "Sorry. A lot's happened."

"So you said. And all of this has brought you your happy ending as you so desired all those years ago?" he asked, still surveying Regina will curiosity.

"Not how I thought it would, but yes. Everything is…good."

"Well, I'm certainly glad to hear that." Dumbledore smiled.

"I just wanted to thank you. When I came here, I was at the darkest place I've ever been to. I never want to be that woman again. I wish I had listened to your advice then but at least I can appreciate it now."

"And thank you for returning to tell me. Even if it was just to an old painting." Dumbledore winked and chuckled again to himself. Regina smiled back at him.

"Anyway, I should get back. I promised I wouldn't be gone long." Regina turned around and spun the hat once more, opening the portal back to Storybrooke.

"Then I imagine this is where we part ways. Good luck, Regina." Dumbledore said, as he once had 30 years ago.

"Thank you." Regina repeated, waved once more to the portrait of the old sorcerer and jumped into the hat.

* * *

With a crash Regina landed on the floor of the library, where Robin rushed over to her immediately.

"Are you alright, Regina?" he asked, helping her to her feet.

"I'm fine. The hat on the other hand." Regina pointed to a smouldering pile of material on the ground.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Robin asked, clutching Regina's hands in his own.

"I did." she replied, staring deep into Robin's eyes and smiling.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** the first scene takes place right after Rumplestiltskin tells Regina about using the heart of the thing she loves most in his cell in 'The Thing You Love Most'. Regina appears at Hogwarts, in 1983, two years after baby Harry Potter defeated Voldemort and during Bill Weasley's second year at Hogwarts.

The present day Regina scene takes place at the end of 'Operation Mongoose Part 2', after Henry broke everyone free from Isaac's book and about an hour before the Darkness is released from Rumplestiltskin.


End file.
